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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 11 Hansard (30 November) . . Page.. 3530 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

The council recommends that governments celebrate dates and events significant to reconciliation, establish and promote symbols of reconciliation and observe protocols and include indigenous ceremony at official events. The government and the ACT Legislative Assembly have already supported the erection of signage in the local environment to acknowledge original Aboriginal occupation and traditional names within the area now designated as the ACT. I am pleased to report that this commitment is being progressed through the relevant agencies and by consultation with the relevant Aboriginal communities.

The government further pledges its commitment to negotiate with local Aboriginal elders and representative bodies to establish protocols, and to negotiate to include appropriate Aboriginal ceremony into official events. The government is committed to supporting events such as Reconciliation Week, the anniversary of National Sorry Day, and NAIDOC Week. As part of this commitment, the government arranges and funds the flying of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags throughout these periods and encourages the participation of ACT government officers in these events.

The council was interested in ongoing funding for community-based reconciliation action. The government has funded a number of community groups and organisations in their work towards reconciliation, and funding requests will continue to be considered and assessed according to the relevant funding criteria and procedures.

As I indicated, the ACT government statement of commitment was provided to the council at the council's end-October 2000 deadline. Since then, some of the council's extended documents have been released and were received by the government in mid-November. In light of the timeframe for the council's report and in light of the council's approaching end, a response to the council is no longer necessary or appropriate.

The extended documents will nonetheless be considered in the continuing development of policy addressing indigenous issues in the ACT. Moreover, the key areas of the documents are being addressed at a national level by all governments through the Council of Australian Governments November 2000 agreement to develop a national framework for benchmarking, monitoring and reporting, with the aim of improving indigenous outcomes. The development of this framework is already in progress, and the ACT is playing its part in that process.

In closing, I would like to say that reconciliation requires a decency of spirit and a vision for a better future. It also requires us to translate this spirit and vision into policies and programs that make a practical difference. We still have a way to travel on the path towards true reconciliation, but I am confident that the ACT community is headed in the right direction and that our record in these matters will stand on its merits.

I present the following paper:

I move:

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